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Mescalero man sentenced for meth trafficking

Ortega faces 3 1/2 years in prison

Staff reports

Posted:
07/29/2014 03:52:26 PM MDT

Gabriel Gene Ortega, 34, an enrolled member of the Mescalero Apache Nation who resides in Mescalero, was sentenced Tuesday for his methamphetamine trafficking conviction. Ortega was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ortega was arrested on Dec. 7, 2012, based on a criminal complaint charging him with the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. On April 18, 2013, Ortega pleaded guilty to a felony information charging him with manufacturing and distributing methamphetamine in the Mescalero Apache Reservation in Otero County between Aug. 1, 2011, and Aug. 8, 2012.

Court filings reflect Ortega was charged based on evidence developed by a Bureau of Indian Affairs investigation. As part of that investigation, the BIA executed a federal search warrant at Ortega's residence on Aug. 8, 2012, and seized chemicals, equipment and items associated with the manufacturing of methamphetamine. The BIA also seized a vial containing methamphetamine.

In entering his guilty plea, Ortega admitted he had been involved in the manufacturing and distribution of methamphetamine for a year preceding the execution of the search warrant.

This case was investigated by the Mescalero Agency of the BIA's Office of Justice Services with assistance from the Las Cruces office of the FBI, the Ruidoso Police Department and the New Mexico State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron O. Jordan of the U.S. Attorney's Las Cruces Branch Office prosecuted the case.